CONNECTED AT BROOKWOOD: A Note Before Break

Two weeks is a funny amount of time. Long enough to lose track of what day it is, but short enough that it still feels precious.

I don't have a framework or best practices for break. Just a couple of things I'm thinking about as we head out.

Screen time that's shared is different from screen time alone. Watching something together, playing a game as a family, laughing at the same thing. It's connection time, not just screen time. It’s one small way to stay in the same room, the same moment, instead of each of us drifting off into our own corners of the internet.

Boredom is also worth protecting. The kind where kids have to figure out what to do with themselves. Building a pillow fort. Getting oddly focused on some small project. Reading a book that has nothing to do with school. Following a curiosity just because they can.

Break offers time for things that don't fit neatly into the school year. Tinkering. Making something that serves no particular purpose. Spending time with people you don't usually see. Doing nothing in particular and discovering that's okay.

Mostly, I hope this is a chance to reconnect with family, with friends, with the physical world, and with yourselves. To slow things down just enough to feel them again.

Wishing you a restful and restorative winter break. See you in 2026!

David Saunders
Director of Leadership, Changemaking, & Technology